Remembrance
by Twizardck
Summary: Years ago, Roderich chose the wrong one... And now he is trying to fix it. But is it too late? Three-shot. PruAus. Mentioned AusHun. Rated for mild language and character death. Nyotalia characters in later updates.
1. I Reconnection

**I.  
Reconnection**

The hospital tried to give the false impression of cheer. The name, Saint Michael's Hospital: Emergency and Long-Term Care, was printed in navy blue on a creamy stone background. All around it were flower beds. On some days you could see patients going around on walks and watering the flowers. They would wave to the visitors. These were the patients that were recovering and would be leaving soon.

The receptionist was a nice enough woman. She looked up with a smile, blonde hair pulled back in a clip, fingers pausing on the keyboard which she typed on so diligently and rapidly. She was never away from that computer, except when she was answering the wired phone on the other end of the desk. Her voice was cool and calm and gentle. "No visitors but family," she would purr, twining the phone cord around her finger. "You will have to talk to the overseer."

Room 1701 was in the sixth wing. The door at the entrance of the wing read "fatal diseases – noncontiguous". Mostly it was full of cancer patients with very little hope. They came and went. But not the man in 1701.

"She doesn't look anything like her mother." Gilbert Beilschmidt sat up in his bed, holding the picture he had been given. He pursed his lips and tilted his head, blinking his red eyes slowly as if trying to find any trace of Elizabeta in the little girl depicted. "Nope. No Lizzie in there. You sure she's the mother?"

Roderich nodded a little and took the picture back. "Surprisingly, maternity tests are not all that common. There is no doubt of where the child came from." His lips twitched up as Gilbert rewarded him with one of his trademark laughs, slipping away the photograph. His eyes wandered around the surprisingly bare room. Considering how long the other had been here, Roderich would have thought some part of him had stuck.

Gilbert noticed Roderich looking around and he gestured dramatically. "Welcome to my realm of awesomeness. Though it's currently un-awesome. The nurses took away all my stuff for cleaning. I told them it was fine. But. Y'know." He took a deep breath and fixed Roderich with a stare. "Why are you here, Roddy? You've never come before…"

Looking down at the ground, Roderich fidgeted with something in his pocket. He wet his lips, then opened them, then closed them again, clearly nervous. Finally, he looked back up. "Elizabeta and I are getting divorced," he murmured.

Surprise flickered in Gilbert's eyes and he quickly looked away. "Really? Shocker. Always said that you two couldn't tie the knot. You're the gayest guy I know. Who the hell spends so much time on their hair? Not Lizzie. You like guys, I swear it."

Roderich also looked away, taking a deep breath. "Gilbert… I've finally come to my senses. About you."

Both turned their heads and red eyes met violet. Gilbert suddenly looked just as nervous as Roderich and his gaze moved to the other's pocket. "You… You still have it?"

Roderich nodded just a little, pulling from his pocket a thin gold ring and looking it over, a faint smile on his face. "It was never away from me…"

Gilbert sat up straighter, fingers curling in the blankets of his bed. "You told me you'd never even consider! That it was wrong of me to ask you because we were both guys! Then you turned right around and asked Lizzie, like that was okay!"

Lowering his head, Roderich closed his eyes, taking in a shaky breath. "I was scared, Gilbert. Scared about my parents. Scared about what everyone would think. That was eight years ago… And I regret it so much."

"It doesn't fucking matter if you regret it…" Gilbert turned away, hunched in on himself. "I've been stuck in this room for six years… I'm dying, Roderich. We've lost our chance."

Hesitantly, Roderich went and sat on the edge of the bed. "Gilbert… I've loved you since high school. You know it. You feel the same way. You asked me to marry you once… _Now_ is our chance."

Gilbert turned, slowly, holding out a shaky hand for the ring. When it was pressed into his palm, he closed his fingers and kissed them, eyes closing for the briefest moment. "I searched for days for the right ring… I rehearsed it all. I took you out to that old Italian place behind the theatre, remember? I got us a private table… Got down on one knee… And you ran. So I mailed you the goddamn ring. I got your wedding announcement in return."

"I know," Roderich whispered. "I was wrong. I was so beyond wrong, Gilbert…"

Opening his eyes again, Gilbert stared over at Roderich. "It's wrong of me to ask you this… You're divorcing. You have a five year old daughter. I'm supposed to live two more years, at the most."

Roderich smiled weakly. "Love conquers all."

Nodding slightly, Gilbert reached out and took hold of Roderich's left hand. "And I think I'm dreaming. I've got to think that because I've dreamed about this only a billion times. Though I always figured I would have been out of my hospital gown for it."

Roderich looked down at his hand. "For right now, it's a tuxedo."

Smiling faintly, Gilbert held out the ring, the ring that Roderich had spent countless nights turning over in his fingers, the ring he had almost sent back with a note saying how rude it had been to give to him, but the paper had gotten too tearstained and he hadn't finished. In Gilbert's thin, pale fingers, the ring lit up and shone and spoke of promise. As much promise as he could give.

"Roderich Edelstein… I have thought about you every day for the past eight years. I still love you. And if you will have me now, as I am… Will you marry me?"

There was a suddenly tearful yes and the band was slipped onto Roderich's left ring finger. The two shared a kiss like they hadn't for the past eight years, and all too soon the nurse came in and told Roderich visiting hours were over.

Gilbert left the hospital two weeks later, discharged. There was nothing more they could do for him and he wanted to spend the remaining years of his life with his new husband and daughter.

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**I should be working on Playing with Fire. I am. I swear. I have most of Roderich's section done. But I have had this three-shot all planned out in my head for a while now... And it's all written. The next section will be up tomorrow. Please review?**


	2. II Recollection

**II.  
Recollection**

The procession was subdued and silent, trudging through the snow. The black of their clothes was a stark contrast against the white landscape, all the people following the car. It finally stopped and the casket was brought out. Open casket, despite the drawn sight of Gilbert's face. He had withered in the last few months. But he had surpassed expectations. Gilbert Beilschmidt was a fighter and he had held on for five more years.

"Gilbert could make anyone smile," Elizabeta murmured, face half-concealed behind a black veil. "He was… Rude. And vulgar. But he wanted you to be happy. Not that he'd ever admit it of course." She offered a weak smile and was rewarded by a couple laughs from the crowd. "He just… He was a good man. And for the greater majority of my life, my best friend." She looked down at the ground, twisting a handkerchief through her fingers. "The world is worse off without him."

She looked over at where Roderich stood with their daughter, staring straight ahead of himself, dark circles under his eyes showing that he hadn't been sleeping. He looked faraway, lost in some other world. She hoped it was a world where he was happy, like she had never seen him when they were together, like she had seen him every day with Gilbert.

Ludwig was by the casket now, looking down at his older brother's face. "I never thought… This would come so early." His voice was hoarse and he clenched his fists by his sides. "Gilbert… He was like my second father. When Vati died… Gilbert took over everything. I was practically raised by him." Blue eyes closed and a deep breath was taken. "I've lost the last of my family this week. I can only be glad that he is no longer suffering." He opened his eyes again, hands relaxing. "Ich liebe dich, bruder."

Francis and Antonio went up together, Francis openly wiping his eyes and sobbing in French: "Mon ami… Adieu, adieu, adieu…" They stood looking down at the casket, looking down at their departed friend.

"There's no one like Gilbert…" Antonio murmured, as it was clear Francis currently could not. "You would take him to a bar and ten beers later, he's still only slightly buzzed. He would just sit you down when he knew you had a trouble and listen, nodding and taking notes and going 'mhm, mhm, awesomely interesting, keep talking'. And though his advice was… Sometimes not the best, he always tried his best and wanted things to work out for you." The Spaniard fell silent, lower lip trembling slightly.

Francis rubbed at his eyes. "There was no better friend… From infancy, no better friend… Everyone here should be heartbroken at the loss. Mais… But he called on me just a couple weeks before… Before, you know… And he told me not to worry about him. He died happy." He looked up, eyes still watery. "He knew he was loved."

Very slowly, Roderich went up, holding the hand of his ten year old daughter. For a long moment, he stared down at his husband's face, then his shoulders shook a little and his eyes closed. "I love you, Gilbert…" he whispered. "I love you now, and always…" A single tear ran down his face. "Ruhe in Frieden."

The little girl, who looked so much like her father, leaned over the casket and tucked a single red rose under Gilbert's hand. "I love you, Vati Gilbert," she murmured before stepping back. The pair of them stood there as the casket was closed and lowered in the ground. They stood there as it was covered and the both of them looked at the headstone.

It read: Gilbert Beilschmidt. Awesome husband, father, and brother. January 18, 1975 – February 28, 2005.

* * *

**This was definitely one of the hardest scenes for me to write. I never kill off people. Never. But there you have it. The last section will be up tomorrow. Review, please?**


	3. II Resonance

**III.  
Resonance**

Alarice Edelstein had grown since her second father's funeral. She was seventeen now and like her biological father in every way, from her brown hair that cascaded down to her waist to her violet eyes that stood out, large in her face. Today was the first day of her senior year and she looked forward to being done with high school and going to Julliard for violin. She had already been accepted.

She was very protective of her father now. He was thirty-seven and young to have a child her age, but his health was rapidly deteriorating. She knew that it had begun with the death of her Vati Gilbert. Alarice still caught her father staring at his late husband's picture every night. Now and again he would find her looking in on him and turn around with a weak smile.

"Follow your heart, Ally," he would murmur. "Remember that we'll both always love you."

Alarice was fully convinced that her father hadn't accepted Gilbert's death yet. Sometimes she felt as if he believed the other man was still there.

She ran up the steps of the Performing Arts Center, ducking into the orchestra room and sitting down at her place in the concertmaster's chair. Humming, she got out and tuned her violin, glancing around the classroom with warm eyes. This was the only class she ever missed over the summer. This year was going to be the best.

There was a soft clearing of a throat behind her. Blinking, Alarice turned around and smiled at the girl she saw. Juliette looked as wonderful as ever, her long white hair flowing down just as long as Alarice's own, her dark red eyes a jolt back to the past as they so closely resembled her second father's eyes. The other girl was in a tank top and shorts while Alarice always wore silk dress shirts and long slacks, no matter the warm weather.

"It's been all summer, Ally…" Juliette said quietly, sounding uncharacteristically shy. She moved closer and sat down right next to Alarice, biting her lip. "I know you've been preoccupied… Congrats on Julliard, by the way, but you've got to tell me now. I mean, just about every guy in the school likes you, which is awesome, but I did ask you back in May and…"

Alarice leaned forward and silenced Juliette with a kiss, which seemed to shock the other, as she froze, then leaned forward and slid a hand into Alarice's hair, holding her closer.

Follow your heart is what her father always told her… And while Alarice knew that yes, a lot of boys at her school were interested in her, especially Daniel, who she had been friends with since childhood, her heart would always lead her to Juliette, just as Roderich's always would take him to Gilbert.

Alarice and Juliette married June 6, 2013, just after graduating high school. Three days later, Roderich Beilschmidt died. He left to be with the one he loved, reunited once again.

* * *

**And with that, our story is done. Yes, the chapters got shorter. But I hope you liked it anyone! Please review! Playing With Fire will be updated as soon as possible, so keep an eye out.**


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